Recent events have reminded me that more than anything else, I wanted my children to be good, kind people. Beauty is superficial, fleeting and of little value. Brains, talent and ambition are admirable, but in the absence of humility, compassion and generousity are meaningless.  As it turns out, my children are beautiful, smart, talented and ambitious but more importantly they are also loving, kind, compassionate, and generous. They walk (or perhaps slide) across valleys of volcanic rock to help others or sit by a friend’s side in an emergency room half of the night.  When God asks me what I have given back to the world, I can proudly point them.

After reading a draft of Highland Solution, due to be released in September 2013, my dad asked me where I got the idea for the story. I told him that the plot for this novel, along with the others that are in development have been floating around in my head for years. He didn’t ask me where the characters came from.  They too have been in my imagination for a long time. In fact, Katherine, the heroine of Highland Solution, has been there since before I had children. I realize now that I instilled the same values in Katherine’s character that, years later, I worked to develop in my children.

Therefore, I guess it is no coincidence that there are similarities between my heros and heroines and the people in my life who I love and admire but in some cases, I’m not sure which came first.

Ceci